We’re so close to completing what will be the first factually accurate film ever produced about pioneering psychiatrist, research physician and scientist Wilhelm Reich, M.D., whose published books and research journals were banned and burned by the United States government in 1956 and 1960.

To complete this film and put it out into the world to help correct the widespread distortions about Reich, we’re asking for your support.

Our 2014 Kickstarter campaign raised $187,000 for “Phase 1: Production” which enabled us to move forward with on-camera interviews and location filming in Europe and America:

And last year’s crowdfunder to raise $180,000 for “Phase 2: Editing & Post-Production” brought in $115,780, which was about $65,000 short of what was always a realistic and well-calculated budget figure for putting this film together in the editing room:

Since then,we’ve edited a 90-minute “rough cut” of what will be a 110-minute film.Which means we’ve assembled over 80% of the film storyline, but with much more work and expenses still ahead of us.

To meet these expenses, we also spent considerable time over the past nine months evaluating over 100 grant applications for what are called “finishing funds”. Then we selected and filled out what we felt were the most promising applications, i.e., those specifically seeking documentaries that are historical, rather than contemporary.

To date, however, all of our grant applications for finishing funds have been turned down, which necessitates this one last crowdfunder to secure the monies for completing this film.

$72,000 is our goal for this final crowdfunder, a far more modest sum than our previous campaigns. $72,000—minus Indiegogo’s standard 5% fee plus all credit card fees—will provide us with over $66,000 for our remaining post-production expenses.

And to ensure that every new dollar is spent directly on the film, we are not offering any rewards, perks or incentives as we’ve done in our previous crowdfunders. That would only add to the already burdensome costs and labor required to finish this film.

Moreover, we hope that the greatest incentive for any donor is the personal satisfaction of helping us bring this film to completion, a film that will present an authentic and factual narrative of Reich’s life and work to newer and broader audiences.

OUR REMAINING POST-PRODUCTON EXPENSES INCLUDE:

SECURING THE RIGHTS TO HISTORIC PHOTOGRAPHS

While we have free and unlimited access to all photographs in Reich’s archives at Harvard’s Countway Library of Medicine, the rights and clearances to dozens of photographs from other archives and collections cost hundreds of dollars apiece.

Some examples for this film: (a) Photographs of the 1934 Congress of the International Psychoanalytic Association in Lucerne where Reich was formally expelled from the Association. (b) Photographs of individual psychoanalysts, scientists, journalists, left wing officials, FDA officials, lawyers, etc.

SECURING THE RIGHTS TO HISTORIC FILMS & NEWSREELS

These resources will cost thousands of dollars, depending on how many seconds or minutes are used in the final film.

Some examples for this film: (a) Newsreels of the 1927 fire and riot at the Palace of Justice in Vienna, the event that politically radicalized Reich. (b) Footage from a private collection at the Library of Congress showing Reich and other psychoanalysts on the streets of Vienna in the 1920s. (c) World War I and World War II footage.

SECURING THE RIGHTS TO NEWSPAPERS / MAGAZINES / ARTICLES

Costs for these resources vary, according to individual archives or collections. Some examples for this film are visuals from numerous European and American publications, spanning six decades.

EDITING ROOM COSTS

Rental time for the editing room costs well over $100 per hour. Hundreds of hours have been spent in the editing room thus far, with many more hours still ahead of us.

These hours will be spent: (a) Finishing the rest of the film storyline. (b) Fine-tuning the edit of the complete 110-minute film. (c) Adding camera movement and other effects to hundreds of photographs and other visuals, i.e., excerpts from Reich’s laboratory notebooks, diaries, correspondence, documents, plus newspaper and magazine articles.

TITLES / GRAPHICS

Hiring a graphic artist to design titles and graphic treatments for the entire film.

MUSIC SCORE / SOUND DESIGN

Producing an original music score and adding audio effects for the full-length film.

FINAL SCRIPT / VOICE-OVER NARRATION

Revising and finalizing the film’s scripted narration. Auditioning and hiring a voice-over narrator, plus other contributing voices. Conducting an audio recording session at a sound studio to record the narration for the complete film.

We are grateful and indebted to all of you who have supported this project in our previous crowdfunders. It’s because of you that we have come this far, and we hope that you’ll help us finish what you helped us to start.

And to those of you coming to this project for the first time, we hope there’s something about Wilhelm Reich’s life and work that resonates for you and will inspire you to help us finish this much-needed film.

WHY SHOULD YOU DONATE TO THIS FILM PROJECT? OF WHAT INTEREST IS WILHELM REICH TO YOU?

Wilhelm Reich, M.D. (1897-1957) created a unique and valuable legacy of social, medical and scientific achievements in psychoanalysis and psychiatry; sexual health; the psychology of fascism; cellular research; the origin and experimental treatment of diseases such as cancer; infant and childhood health; and weather experimentation.

But, tragically, Reich’s published books and research journals were banned and burned by the United States government in 1956 and again in 1960.

How could such a thing have happened in America, the country to which Reich had emigrated from Europe just four days before the outbreak of World War Two? What was in those publications that allegedly “merited” their destruction by the U.S. government?

And the prevalent distortions and misrepresentations about Reich and his work—which originated during his lifetime—persist to this day in poorly researched books, articles, films and throughout the Internet, including Wikipedia.

This painstakingly researched documentary film will help to correct and dispel these distorted narratives.

Your contribution will help ensure that Reich’s remarkable life, and his pioneering insights into human health and the health of the planet, will be presented factually and compellingly to widespread audiences.

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About Kevin Hinchey

Since 2002, Kevin Hinchey has been a co-director of the Wilhelm Reich Infant Trust in Rangeley, Maine (created by Reich himself in his Last Will & Testament) which helps to administer Reich’s archives at the Countway Library of Medicine at Harvard University; works with New York publisher Farrar, Straus & Giroux to publish Reich’s books; and operates the Wilhelm Reich Museum in Rangeley, Maine.
Mr. Hinchey has an M.F.A. in Film & Television from the New York University Graduate Film School, worked as a screenwriter in Los Angeles and New York, is a member of the Writers Guild of America (West) in Los Angeles, and over the past ten years has been a film professor in Connecticut and Massachusetts.
Mr. Hinchey was also part of an academic group that created the syllabus for a one-semester college course on Wilhelm Reich that provided the basis for an upper-level college elective that is now being taught in the United States.